Free Family Entertainment

Bring the whole family and come and celebrate the final day of the 2011 Sydney Carnival with plenty of free activities on offer for the little ones, including pony rides, a petting zoo and face painters.

The kids will love the Circus Works tent and enjoy getting creative in the Arts and Crafts Workshops throughout the afternoon.

There will also be plenty of rides to keep the kids entertained including the adrenaline maze, bungee trampoline, and a visit by the Easter bunny himself.

Col Tuck's Racing Review

The Sydney Carnival draws to a close at Royal Randwick on Saturday with four Group 1 races set down for decision.

 The Schweppes Sydney Cup should feature the Lloyd Williams owned C'Est La Guerre who was placed in the 2008 Melbourne Cup and Mourayan who was runner up in last years Metropolitan at Randwick. Hawk Island is the likely top weight and was impressive in winning the Japan Racing Association Plate on Saturday.

 The Daily Telegraph All Aged Stakes will be one of the highlight races of the Sydney Carnival with The George Ryder Stakes winner Rangirangdoo taking on the placegetters from the Patinack Farms T J Smith Stakes, Hay List and Triple Honour together with Melito and Victorian visitor Heart of Dreams.

 The Queen Elizabeth Stakes has Doncaster winner Sacred Choice nominated together with BMW winner Cedarberg whilst The Champagne Stakes has the Sires Produce trifecta Helmut, Uate and Pane in the Glass set to renew their rivalry over 1600m.

There is also a strong support program including the Group 2 Emancipation Stakes and Group 3 Frank Packer Plate. Gates open at 10.30 am with the First Race scheduled for 12.25pm.
 

Anzac Day

Monday 25 April - Kensington Track - Anzac Day

To commemorate the significance of the day, we will pause prior to Race 1 for the mounting of a Catafalque Party and the playing of the Last Post to remember the sacrifices of those who fought and died in war protecting our nation.

We are also offering free course entry to any Defence personnel who are either in uniform or show their Defence identification.

Future Race Dates

Wednesday 11 May - Kensington Track

Sunday 15 May - Warwick Farm

Tuesday 24 May - Kensington Track

Saturday 28 May - Royal Randwick

Derby Wall of Fame

If you missed the fantastic exhibition wall last week, it will be worth your while to seek it out this Saturday.

The exhibition wall wraps around the outside of the Octagonal Bar and features a wonderful timeline featuring influential moments, people and images that have shaped the Derby throughout the years.

The Wall was put together with the help of the AJC Heritage Society and ATC Marketing Team.

AJC Heritage Society

For those of you who came to the Derby Room during the afternoon and had a look at our small Derby historical display in the passageway, we hope you enjoyed it.

We had Ray Selkrig’s saddle, used on all four of his AJC Derby winners, and for a while we also had Ray, as affable as always, autographing items at request.

There was a display of very old and of more modern racebooks of Derby Days past, the story of the 1911 Derby Day racebook found in the Titanic wreck and more. For those of you who made a donation to the AJC Heritage Society and received our 8 page illustrated publication “Celebrating the AJC Derby: Sydney’s Blue Riband” telling the 150 year history of the great race, we hope you enjoyed that too (copies can be obtained from the Heritage Society for a donation).

To let you know what will happen with your donation, nearly $500 so far, we advise that we have decided to use the money to have the items acquired recently and described in last week’s bulletin, cleaned, repaired and re-framed. The Darby Munro pieces from that group will eventually join the magnificent Darby Munro memorabilia displayed currently in the Derby Room.
 

A Happy and Safe Easter

On behalf of the Chairman and the Board of Directors we would like to wish you all a safe and happy Easter, with lots of racing and winners.